Haunting, disturbing and yet subtle - this book was a remarkable read. Eugenides' dreamlike prose made this harrowing tale almost magical, I haven't read a book like it for a long, long time.

The fact that it's interspersed with dark humour made me love it even more. The characters are completely engaging without much use of dialogue for communication, something which I rarely see in books but love (and I think the scene where the Lisbon girls and the boys play records for each other is a prime example of this - beautiful.)

I think this is quite a 'Marmite' novel and I understand why, but for me it felt very special, like I was being given a unique gift that I should treasure forever. I know this one will be staying with me.